Some farmers have been pinching themselves because of the high commodity prices they’ve experienced this year. Are those prices a one-time thing or part of a long-term trend? USDA’s Michael Dwyer says the current prosperity could be here to stay unless it gets derailed by a recession in Europe. Dwyer spoke at the USA Rice Federation’s annual Outlook Conference in Austin, Texas.

The hypoxia, or “dead zone,” in the Gulf of Mexico is one of those issues that seems to go on and off the radar of environmental activists. But farmers and government officials like Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey are continuing to work on the problem. Northey talked about those efforts following a presentation at annual Integrated Crop Management Conference at Iowa State University.

After two years in development, AgBalance, BASF's holistic method for assessing sustainability in agriculture, received independent assurances from three global expert agencies. With AgBalance, BASF has developed a unique method that can calculate scenarios and offer potential solutions to increase sustainability in farming.